Europium(III)-Based Fluorescent Microspheres with Styrene Copolymerization toward an Enhanced Photoluminescence Performance

Abstract

Rare earth-based polystyrene (PS) fluorescent microspheres, which vigorously combine the merits of rare earth elements and polystyrene microspheres, hold great potential for applications in the state-of-the-art technology and tremendous efforts have been devoted to the photoluminescence field. Herein, a 5-acrylamido-1,10-phenanthroline (Aphen) and Eu(III)-based polystyrene fluorescent microsphere was developed via a facial copolymerization strategy. The optimal complexes of Eu(β-NTA)3(Aphen) and Eu(BFA)3(TPPO)2 were fabricated as the luminescent materials. Specifically, Eu(β-NTA)3(Aphen)-PS was modified for the first time to enhance the photoluminescence property, which effectively integrated the Aphen with styrene monomer. Meanwhile, Eu(BFA)3(TPPO)2 was encapsulated into PS microspheres for the realization of Eu(BFA)3(TPPO)2-PS via an ubiquitous embedding process. The fluorescent intensity of Eu(β-NTA)3(Aphen)-PS was notably reinforced along with an increasing concentration of the rare earth complexes. However, the fluorescence intensity of Eu(BFA)3(TPPO)2-PS was decreased when the concentration was 50 mg due to the saturated solubility of the complexes. The obtained copolymerization fluorescent microspheres could prevent the premature leakage of the fluorescent complexes in a natural environment and showed an outstanding photoluminescence efficiency.